Lessons in Humanity
by OfMiceAndBears
Summary: "What are you?" Koujaku asked at last, her voice strong despite the terror she felt. Grimmjow stared at her blankly for a moment before a grin split his face, sharp and feral as anything. He reminded Koujaku of a cat with a bird in its paw. No, not a cat. Something bigger, more dangerous. A jaguar, perhaps, dragging a still kicking deer up its tree, no hope of escape.
1. Panther Meets Sparrow

**Panther Meets Sparrow**

A shrill ringing broke through the heavy silence in a small room, the noise seeming to bounce off walls and grate nerves as it did so. A figure could be seen reaching a hand out of their nest of blankets to grope around on the nightstand for their phone, pulling in a deep breath and clearing their throat as they answered with a slurred ''H'lo?". A voice answered their hello with a cheery one of their own, barely containing the laughter seeping into their voice that the person who was so rudely awakened immediately took note of.

"Hello Jaku-kun! How are we this fine afternoon?" 'Jaku-kun' sighed and rolled over onto her back, tossing an arm over her face as she tried to ignore the fact that her room was unbearably stuffy.

"Kisuke. It's Monday afternoon and I get to work graveyard tonight as well as my own morning shift tomorrow. Somebody better be fucking dying." There was a chuckle and the snap of a fan on the other end of the line.

"Oh Jaku-kun! Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?" he asked, smirk evident in his voice.

" _You_ woke me up on the wrong side of the fucking bed, don't even." A small, barely there voice on the other end of the line could be heard telling Kisuke to "Get to the point already and get Koujaku here, dammit!" causing Kojaku to sigh in relief, recognizing Kurosaki Ichigo's ever annoyed voice anywhere.

"Very well then, Ichigo-san, if you insist. Can you meet at the Shoten in thirty minutes, Koujaku-kun? It's rather important and we need a finesse that only you can give."

Koujaku sighed and scrubbed a hand over her face in annoyance, not bothering to hide it as she answered the ex-Soul Reaper. "It must be important if you're calling me by my full name. I'll be there as soon as I can." Koujaku promptly hung up and tossed her phone somewhere near the foot of her bed, sighing as she heard it bounce off the edge and clatter to the floor.

"Fucking Kisuke, fucking Tao for quitting, fuck today already." Koujaku lay in bed for another minute or two before getting up and shedding her pajamas, leaving them on the floor as she pulled on the pair of dark jeans she wore the day before and a black and white band tee-shirt she had plucked from the 'not-too-dirty-not-to-wear' pile on her desk chair. She took one look at her bed head in the mirror on the back of her door before deciding that hats where definitely the way to go.

Koujaku arrived at the Shoten fifteen minutes later, barely remembering to kick off her shoes at the entrance before she made her way into the back and towards the tea room where Kisuke usually held his meetings, biting down on the flat ends of her piercings in annoyance. She slid the door open and was greeted with the familiar sight of Kisuke's stupid bucket hat and plotting grin as well as Ichigo's bright orange hair, the Substitute Soul Reaper looking just as annoyed as she felt. There was also a man around her age sitting in one corner with his back against the wall, his hair a light shade of blue and his face showing disinterest rather than annoyance. Koujaku nodded to him in greeting and plopped down in the space next to Ichigo, crossing her arms over her chest and fixing the blonde with a glare.

"I have to be to work in less than four hours, so you better start talking and you better not beat around the fucking bush like you always do, chop chop mother fucker." Kisuke snapped his fan open and hid behind it, his eyes the only thing showing his amusement.

"Jaku-kun, you wound me! I would never beat around the bush with you! Why, you're practically my daughter, and I'm sure that after I die you would be kind enough to take over the Shoten and make sure that-" Koujaku made an angry noise and rose from her spot, already halfway to the door before Kisuke stopped her.

"Koujaku, sit back down." He ordered, a dangerous edge to his voice. Koujaku quirked a brow and stared at him from in the doorway, gauging his reaction and wondering how much she would regret it later if she just left. The look on Kisuke's face was intense enough to get her to comply at once, returning to her seat next to Ichigo.

"Jaku-kun, this is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, ex-Espada." Kisuke motioned to the man against the wall, who fixed Koujaku with an intense glare. Koujaku blinked, confused as to why this Grimmjow person had anything to do with why she was here.

"Okay, and? What the hell does he have to do with anything?"

"Do you really not remember?" Ichigo asked, brown eyes boring into Koujaku's own red ones. Koujaku only shrugged. "He's an Arrancar. You know, a Hollow with Soul Reaper powers?" Koujaku was still drawing a blank. She didn't run around killing Hollows like Ichigo himself did, and therefore tried not to get in between said orange-head and anything that wanted to fight him or kill him or both.

"They first appeared here in the World of the Living several months ago and were the main reason Inoue-chan went missing." Kisuke explained, hiding his lower face with that stupid fan of his. Something clicked in Koujaku's mind just then, remembering Orihime talk to her about one named Ulqui-something that she had apparently formed a close bond with when she had disappeared.

"I think I remember Orihime talking to me about that after she came back. Isn't he supposed to be a bad guy or something?" The man named Grimmjow snarled at Koujaku, his teeth pulled back as if warning that she was treading in dangerous territory.

"'Bad guy' is an extremely black and white term." Kisuke began, watching Grimmjow closely. "He did work for Aizen at one point in time, but due to his efforts in the War that resulted in the defeat of Yawach, he was granted leniency by the Soul Society and spared execution. He is the entire reason that I called you over here." Koujaku sighed and refrained from slamming her head on the table, opting instead to rub her eyes with her knuckles so hard spots of color bloomed behind her lids and stayed there even after her eyes opened.

"Oh my God, I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep, am I?"

"Afraid not." Kisuke chirped, a stark contrast to the serious tone he had just been using. "Grimmjow, although given leniency, needs to prove that he can become a functioning member of human society. If he proves himself, he can be allowed to live here in the World of the Living instead of in the Soul Society, where he would be under constant supervision and kept strictly within the walls of the Rukon District. Head Captain Kyoraku, as well as Captains Kuchiki, agreed to have him come here to learn before they forced him to stay in one of the prefectures of the Rukon Dictrict." Koujaku looked at Kisuke blankly, lost as soon as he had mentioned the Rukon District – whatever the hell that was supposed to be.

"I have no idea what the Rukon District is or who Captains who-the-fuck-ever are, but okay. I suppose that I'm the one that's supposed to teach him how to be 'human'?" Kisuke nodded his head, shit eating grin spreading out across his face.

"That would be correct, Jaku-kun!" Koujaku narrowed her eyes at Kisuke, hearing the 'but' at the end of that sentence.

"What's the catch?" She asked, coming to rest her arms on the table.

"I'm so glad you asked." he shrilled. "As you know, I currently have Tessai, Jinta, Ururu, and Yoroichi living with me, as well as Squad Six Lieutenant Renji Abarai staying in the guest room whenever he has a job here in the World of the Living. Therefore, I unfortunately don't have the room to house Grimmjow here at the Shoten. It was decided that he would stay with you since he is, after all, going to be learning the finer traits of being human from you." Koujaku slammed her hands on the table, staring at Kisuke like he had grown a second head.

"Are you kidding me?!" she shouted. "Why can't he live with Ichigo or somebody? I don't exactly have the room to keep him either."

"Don't you go dragging me into this." Ichigo said, glaring at Koujaku. "He tried to kill me. Multiple times might I add. There's no way in hell I'm letting him sleep under the same roof as my family and I." Koujaku looked pleadingly to Kisuke, hoping to change his mind somehow. The man only gave her a steady stare, silently telling her that she was going to have to suck it up and put her big-girl pants on and deal with it. Koujaku sighed and hung her head, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Okay, fine, whatever. Can I go now? My shift starts at 9:30, and if I don't want to fall asleep stocking the cooler then I need to squeeze a nap in before then."

"Yes, yes, go. Grimmjow, go with my sweet, sweet Jaku-kun; she will take excellent care of you and your every need." Kisuke snapped his fan closed and fixed the Arrancar with a piercing gray stare, his tone suddenly icy and dangerous. "Just know that if anything should happen to her, your fault or not, you'll have me to deal with." Grimmjow grimaced and Koujaku groaned, standing up and glaring at Kisuke.

"Why do you have to be so fucking weird about everything? And quit calling me Jaku-kun. it gives me a complex." Koujaku stood and opened the door to the room, barely managing to take a step out of the room before Kisuke called her back in. He held something in his hand and he tossed it to Koujaku, who caught it easily in her left hand. The woman stared curiously at it, seeing that it resembled a cat shaped PEZ dispenser. Koujaku turned her curious gaze to Kisuke, who was hiding behind his paper fan, the brim of his hat shadowing his eyes.

"What's this for?" She asked.

"Just in case." He said, his voice once again holding that odd protective edge behind it. Koujaku frowned but stuffed the item in her pocket, hating the fact that Kisuke always gave her cryptic answers to her questions.

Kisuke and Ichigo then followed Koujaku and Grimmjow to the front door, the orange-headed Soul Reaper walking the pair to the end of the driveway with his hands tucked casually in his pants pockets. The tenseness in his shoulders was the only thing that gave away how worried he really was. Koujaku waved goodbye over her shoulder and silently lead Grimmjow in the right direction.

"Hayashi-san." Ichigo said, his voice deep and authoritative. Koujaku turned around, a bored yet inquisitive look on her face. "Be careful. Call me if you need anything." _Call me if he tries to hurt you._ Koujaku nodded her head, thinking that the look he had on his face was much too serious for a seventeen year-old.

"You got it, Berry-tan." Ichigo's face immediately went from serious to playfully irritated, and he scoffed, turning his head to the side in an attempt to hide the blush that the childish name always gave him. Koujaku laughed, loud and booming like it always was and turned away, once more waving nonchalantly over her shoulder as she walked away.

Eventually Grimmjow and Koujaku were on their way back to the woman's apartment, Koujaku with her hands stuffed into the pockets of her hoodie and Grimmjow with a scowl on his face, his own hands shoved in the pockets of the jeans that Kurosaki had loaned him. The silence was mostly awkward, Koujaku still angry about Kisuke waking her up on a night she had to pull a double and Grimmjow because the three had been talking about him like he wasn't there. Koujaku finally broke the silence after about four blocks.

"So, are you in one of those Gigai things, or did you become human by some weird sort of miracle?" Her tone was nothing but curious, with no hint of malice in it what-so-ever, but that didn't stop Grimmjow from glaring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"What the hell does it matter to you, woman?" he demanded. Koujaku stopped so suddenly it took about two and a half steps before the ex-arrancar noticed, the blue haired individual coming to a stop and turning to see what the woman had stopped for. Koujaku had fixed him with a fiery glare, her hands on her hips in a way that told Grimmjow he had just done or said something very wrong.

"Let's get a few things straight." she said, marching up to him. "My name is not 'woman'. You will address me as Koujaku or Hayashi or nothing at all. If I ask you a question, I expect it answered and I expect it answered truthfully. I don't tolerate douchebags, let alone douchebags that are going to be living in my home for fucking free. Got it?" Grimmjow was taken slightly aback by her fierceness, never having encountered a female that was willing to stand up to him, let alone tell him what to do when it happened. Grimmjow nodded his head, watching as Koujaku narrowed her eyes at him one last time, as if sizing him up and figuring out the best way to disembowel him without getting blood all over her clothing, before walking passed him and further down the street.

When the two reached Koujaku's home, Grimmjow was surprised to see that she didn't live in an apartment like Inoue or a modern style house like Kurosaki did, but rather a more traditional style home like the Shoten. A large garden took up the entirety of the front yard, almost hiding the house from view. Stone lanterns lined a black stone walkway all the way to the entrance of the home, as well as around a pond that seemed to disappear into the back yard. Large momiji trees stood on either side of the porch, with more of them as well as sakura, tsubaki,and several willow trees around the edge of the rather large property, creating the illusion of being within a forest. As they walked up the pathway, Grimmjow could see that the property was much, much larger than was normal for a home so tiny, and made a mental decision to explore the garden at some point while he was here.

Koujaku unlocked the door and stepped inside, taking all of five steps within the home before doubling back and kicking off her shoes, stepping on the backs of them and leaving them in a heap in the entrance way. Grimmjow did the same, taking more time to unlace his boots and position them correctly along the wall before following Koujaku down the hallway and into the main portion of the house that was oddly modern and not at all like the traditional exterior. There was a kitchen to Grimmjow's right, complete with a table, four matching chairs and a large, rather expensive looking refrigerator. The living room was decently sized and held a large black box-type thing mounted on the wall directly across from a sofa and coffee table. There was another hallway that lead to where Grimmjow assumed the bathroom and bedrooms would be.

"Kitchen's over there, TV is there. I'll show you how to use it in a second. Follow me and I'll show you where you'll be sleeping." Grimmjow followed Koujaku towards the back of the house and entered what he assumed at first was the guest room, but upon further inspection of the disheveled bed and clothes on the floor, he figured it was actually Koujaku's room.

"This is technically my room, but I don't actually sleep in it much unless I need to work a graveyard, so you can use it until I get the spare cleaned up. Probably this weekend." She said, adding the last bit as if an afterthought.

"You work in a graveyard?" Grimmjow asked. Koujaku looked to him, confusion causing her brows to furrow and eyes to narrow as she tried to figure out what he was talking about. "You said you didn't sleep in here unless you had to work in the graveyard. What kind of woman works in a graveyard of all places?" he clarified. Koujaku then made an 'oh' sound and shook her head.

"No, I don't work in a graveyard. I work at a gas station, and 'graveyard' is a term used when people work the night shift." Grimmjow didn't actually understand what she was talking about, but he pretended like he did anyway.

"Because it's dead, get it?" Grimmjow still looked at her like she was insane, and Koujaku huffed and turned away.

"That was fucking hilarious." She muttered under her breath.

Eventually Koujaku showed him how to work the television before disappearing into her room to nap before her shift started, stumbling out in a rumpled collard shirt, black pants and jacket an hour and a half later, her phone stuck to her ear as she grumbled about being fifteen minutes late to whomever was on the other end. She bid Grimmjow a goodnight, telling him to 'Eat whatever you find. I'll be home tomorrow about two.' before breezing down the hallway and slamming the door closed behind her.

Grimmjow, with nothing better to do, fell asleep shortly after that.

* * *

 **Hello all! Something I've been working of for a while now, and thought I would post it just because!**

 **This will be updated every other Friday, so the next chapter will be posted on July 14th! The second chapter is already done, so the next chapter should be done before the new one is even posted to keep up with the posting schedule!**

 **I'm planning on keeping this to be no more than about 10 chapters so that it doesn't become a 75 monster fic that goes absolutely nowhere!**


	2. A Lesson in Manners

**A Lesson In Manners**

Koujaku didn't arrive until near four-thirty the next day, her phone smooshed between her face and shoulder as she fought to pull her boots off her feet in the doorway. Her feet ached, her head pounded, it felt as if her spine were going to snap in two and all she really wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep until she had to go back to work at four-thirty the next morning.

"No, you don't understand," She snapped, stomping down the hallway and entering the kitchen. "I need that Juugo kid from B-17 to work three days at my store this week so I can get the newbie trained and ready to go by Saturday night." There was a pause as the person on the other end of the line spoke. "Yes, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for training. No, Shiemi's first night by herself will be Saturday if you can push her approval. Awesome, thanks Kaiga, let me know as soon as that approval goes through." Koujaku ended the call and rooted around in the fridge for a moment before she pulled out a bottle of water from its depths.

"Oh man oh man, sleep is calling my muthafukkin _name!_ " Koujaku entered the living room only to find Grimmjow sitting at the couch, television off and a thick book in his hands she recognized as one of the anatomy textbooks from her room.

"Oh man, I totally forgot you were here." The woman visibly deflated, her shoulders slumping and her back bowing. Grimmjow scowled at Koujaku and closed the book around his fingers in an attempt to save his place.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" He asked, blue eyes alight with irritation. Koujaku scoffed and headed towards her room, pulling her work shirt over her head and tossing it onto her bed as she reached for a black crewneck hanging on the door.

"I need to take you shopping before I go to bed. You can't go around wearing Ichigo's clothes forever." She heard Grimmjow walk towards her room, his hands no doubt stuffed in his pants pockets and a scowl on his handsome face. Koujaku ignored him in favor of walking to the dresser along the far side of her wall, pulling the lid of a glass tank and dropping in several crickets from a tiny plastic container sitting next to it. A rather large blue and green scaled lizard moved out from under a dome shaped log and immediately began devouring the tiny insects, his tail slapping against the tank walls whenever he spun around to catch a particularly quick one.

Grimmjow stood in the doorway as he watched Koujaku get ready, said woman rooting around in her closet for duffel-bags and delving into her dresser drawer to extract a rather large wad of money. The Arrancar didn't know much about human currency, but he knew for a fact that someone as young as that woman shouldn't just be pulling money from anywhere – especially wads that large. Koujaku slung one of the bags over her shoulder and shoved the other into Grimmjow's arms as she walked passed him, making sure she had her phone and wallet on her before they left, Grimmjow scowling and Koujaku as if the blue haired individual wasn't following her around like an angry puppy.

The pair caught a bus and headed towards the center of town, taking their seats at the back of the vehicle with Grimmjow near the window and Koujaku taking the aisle seat, her leg bouncing up and down as she fought not to fall asleep and miss their stop.

They eventually got off the bus about four blocks from the Karakura shopping center, Grimmjow trying not to make it look like he was looking at the many tall buildings around them. The only building in Hueco Mundo was Aizen's palace, and even though it absolutely dwarfed the tall buildings in the World of the Living, the many tall buildings in such a small space gave the illusion of being far larger.

The shopping center was busy for a Tuesday afternoon, with people walking quickly from one store to the other, often in groups of two or three. Women talked on phones or chattered happily with their friends, teenagers milled about as they avoided going home for one reason or another. Koujaku didn't waste any time in finding a store and making a bee line towards it, her shoulders hunched slightly as she wove in between the groups of people milling about within the plaza.

They entered a store called _Drop Dead,_ a relatively expensive clothing store owned by some British guy, but Koujaku liked the clothing choices there and figured she had a better chance at getting Grimmjow into these clothes than any other places she would take him to. The store was dimly lit, and heavy metal music could be heard at a relatively respectable volume from the speakers situated near the ceiling. There were three people at the counter, two guys and a woman, that Koujaku recognized as being the manager and two employees. The manager was a tall, heavily tattooed man named Aki, whose polite demeanor often contradicted his gruff appearance. Aki gave Koujaku a smile and a wave, his green eyes alighting at the sight of her.

"Afternoon, Hayashi-san! I saved last season's Gremlin sweater for you! Technically it's ripped, so we can't sell it, but I figured I'd save it for whenever you popped back in." Koujaku wandered up to the counter with Grimmjow trailing slightly behind her, his eyes taking in the sights around him. Anybody else would have mistaken it for curiosity, but in actuality, Grimmjow was taking in his surroundings and plotting various ways to escape if the need ever arose – a habit he had developed whilst in his Gillian form and never quite gotten rid of.

"Oh yeah? Is that something that actually happens, or did you just make that up?" Koujaku asked playfully.

Aki laughed, rich and rolling, before clapping his hand on Koujaku's shoulder.

"Let me go and get it for you." The man then exited from behind the counter, leaving Grimmjow and Koujaku with the other two. The other male was quite a few years younger than Koujaku, his face still holding the roundness that said he wasn't quite old enough to be out of high school quite yet. His brown gaze lingered on Koujaku's slightly taller form, drinking in the careless way she held herself and confidence that emanated from her being. The last person was a woman of short stature who had struck up a conversation with Koujaku, her voice annoyingly shrill to the ex-espada as she gushed about one thing or another. Her gaze then flickered to Grimmjow, and her mouth parted to ask a question.

"Oh Koujaku-chan, who's this?" her pale blue eyes were alight with curiosity and a grin parted her dark face in a cat-like grin. "Is he your _boyfriend?_ "

Grimmjow scowled at the annoying woman, his blue eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Nah, he's a friend of my cousin's. I'm taking him clothing shopping while he's here since the dumb-ass let his clothes get stolen." Grimmjow was surprised at how easily the lie rolled off her tongue without any hesitation, but he didn't appreciate being called a dumb-ass. The other woman looked at him, something akin to pity setting in on her features.

"Oh no, that's horrible! Who would steal somebody else's clothes?"

Grimmjow stared at the girl before turning his gaze to Koujaku, narrowing icy blue eyes at her.

"Beats the absolute hell outta me." He answered. Koujaku just smirked and shrugged nonchalantly, turning her attention back to Aki when he came back with a folded up black hoodie. Koujaku took it and held it up, a pleased grin spreading out across her face when she looked at it. Grimmjow was confused, to say the least, as to _why_ she would be so excited about a sweater with the ugliest creature on it the Arrancar had ever seen before in his entire life. The creature was green, with large eyes and even larger ears, sporting a terrifying grin and lips a shade of red that couldn't be natural.

"That's the ugliest fuckin' thing I've ever seen in my goddamn life." Grimmjow deadpanned, his eyebrows raised and lips pressed in a grimace. Koujaku only shrugged and placed it in her duffel.

" _Anyway._ We have shopping do to. Go ahead and pick out whatever you want, I'll leave you to it." Grimmjow gave her a blank look. Did she really think he had ever done this before? He wouldn't even know where to begin. The vast majority of his life had been spent as a mindless Hollow before he ascended into his Adjuches form. Even after he had been reborn as an Arrancar, it took a lot of coaxing from Aizen, Gin and Tosen to get him to wear the Arrancar uniform. He didn't know the first fucking thing about human clothing, but his pride wouldn't allow him to tell her that, so he meandered to a rack of jackets, feeling incredibly stupid as he browsed through them.

Many of the jackets in the rack he was browsing through had words written on them in a language he didn't understand, and others with odd looking symbols or wolves drawn on them. At the end of the rack was a soft sweater that had so many holes in it he thought couldn't have been made intentionally and that someone had just left it there. Grimmjow snapped his head up and looked at Koujaku, who was leaning against the sales counter in a bored manner as the young guy tried speaking to her about one thing or another, obviously trying a little too hard to catch the woman's attention.

"Hayashi." Grimmjow barked, raising the sweater so she could see. "Is this intentional? Do humans actually _buy_ this shit?" Koujaku frowned slightly before pushing off of the counter, walking across the store with her arms folded across her chest.

"Yes it's intentional, and yes _people_ actually buy it. You don't need to announce the fact that it's stupid across the store like an asshole." Grimmjow glowered at Koujaku and gritted his teeth, his lips pulling back in a snarl. How dare she speak to him like that! Did she not know that he could kill her in an instant if he wanted?

"I've got half a mind to kill you, woman." Grimmjow growled, shoving the sweater back onto the rack violently. Before Grimmjow could turn and walk away, Koujaku had a hold of his ear and was tugging downward with strength the blue-haired man didn't realize she had. He let out an emasculating yelp as his body was forced downward to come eye to eye with Koujaku, who had an angry – borderline straight up livid – expression on her face.

"You wanna repeat that?" she said lowly. Grimmjow didn't know why, but he felt as if he were being scolded by his mother. Grimmjow scowled and opened his mouth to repeat what he had said, but was cut short when Koujaku gave another vicious tug on his ear.

"Rhetorical question, dumb-ass, you weren't supposed to answer that." Koujaku released his hold on Grimmjow's ear and crossed her arms over her chest again, fixing Grimmjow with an annoyed stare. "Have you picked anything out yet?" She asked, gaze drifting to Grimmjow's empty arms. Grimmjow scoffed and turned his head away.

"Can't find anything I like." Grimmjow lied. Koujaku made a small noise at the back of her throat before her hands were shoving Grimmjow's body around. Grimmjow quirked a brow when he felt her pull the collar of his borrowed shirt down a few inches before yelping and pulling away when he felt her tug on the hem of his pants.

"What the hell are you doing, woman?!" he shrieked, embarrassment warming his face.

"Seeing what size clothes you were wearing so I can pick some shit out for you." Koujaku stated, immediately flicking through a rack of jackets behind her. She pulled out a few black hooded jackets and a wind-breaker before walking over to a shelf with a myriad of pants on it. She shifted through all of them before extracting several pairs of black jeans as well as a few pairs of gray and blue ones.. Grimmjow watched as she seemed to pull shirts and other various clothing choices off of random racks or shelves before her arms were completely laden with many pairs or pants, shirts, and jackets.

"We'll just go ahead and buy all of these, and you can try them on as you wear them. We'll just return the ones that don't fit, although, I highly doubt any of them will be too small for you. Men's clothing sizes tend to be pretty universal these days." Koujaku unloaded the clothing into the counter and the annoying woman that worked there immediately began ringing up the items and subsequently folding them, never breaking concentration from her task as she spoke a million miles an hour.

Before Grimmjow knew it, Koujaku was slinging one of the duffel-bags over her shoulder and tossing the other to Grimmjow, who caught it easily even though he wasn't even looking. Grimmjow didn't understand how Koujaku and the annoying woman got _all_ of those clothes into the two bags (there were a total of fifteen shirts, nine pairs of jeans, several packages of underwear and socks, as well as several pairs of pajamas and a few hoodies) but decided against asking questions he didn't want to know the mundane answers to and followed Koujaku out of the store and back to the bus stop.

Grimmjow could see Koujaku yawn at random intervals, and every so often her head tipped forward before snapping back up. It was obvious that she was tired, but she played it off well by looking at her phone whenever she was on the verge of falling asleep where she stood.

The bus rumbled by and the pair got on it, Koujaku and Grimmjow taking the only two available seats near the middle of the bus. Koujaku bounced her leg up and down furiously, looking more and more tired and irritated as the bus ride dragged on. There was a point where a group of rowdy teenagers got on the bus, milling about near Koujaku and the other door. They were all loud and boisterous, and took up the entire aisle, but Koujaku didn't pay them any mind. Shortly after, the bus made another stop and a young woman got on, her belly heavy and swollen with child. She looked around for a space to sit, but when she saw that nothing was available, she hooked her arm around a pole and set her bag on the ground.

Koujaku got up and made her way to the woman, speaking with her and pointing toward the seat where Grimmjow was. The man looked at the pair curiously when they both walked toward him, his eyes trained on the way the woman held her belly with her free arm protectively.

"Grimmjow, get up." Koujaku demanded. Grimmjow raised a brow.

"Why the hell should I?" He questioned, annoyed that he would have to give up his spot when there was a perfectly good one right next to him.

"Because she's pregnant, asshole. I don't want her to have to sit in the aisle with all those dick-head kids next to her where they could knock into her because they're not paying attention, now _get up._ " Grimmjow grumbled but stood, squeezing out of the seat and allowing the woman to sit down. The woman thanked him and sat down, placing her bags between her feet on the floor. Koujaku patted his shoulder in appreciation and set her bag on the seat, ignoring the look Grimmjow gave her.

"Our stop is almost up, there's no point in sitting down now." She said, sliding her thumb across her phone to unlock it. Grimmjow huffed and rolled his eyes, raising an arm to grab the support pole that ran along the roof of the bus. The bus was mostly silent for a moment (save for the teenagers still being loud and obnoxious) and Grimmjow stared absently out of the window.

There was a slight jolt as they hit a bump in the road, so Grimmjow braced himself so he wouldn't fall into anyone. The teenager closest to Koujaku didn't to the same and fell into her, knocking her phone to the floor. Koujaku gritted her teeth and growled, taking her phone back from where Grimmjow had stooped to pick it up without thinking.

"Watch it!" The teenager hissed, turning to join back in the conversation he and his friends had just been having. His friends laughed, but Koujaku didn't look amused at all.

"The proper term is 'excuse me' when you bump into someone," She retorted hotly. The kid scoffed and turned to Koujaku, an annoyed and haughty expression on his face.

"Says who, lady? You're not my mother." He quipped. Koujaku's face went scarily blank, and Grimmjow knew that the kid had just said something the woman didn't like at all.

"Apparently yours needs to give you an ass-beating and a lesson in manners."

"What did you just say to me?" The kid demanded. Koujaku scoffed.

"Did I stutter?"

The kid looked to his friends, and they each chimed in with their own vulgar replies. The people on the bus were looking at them now, each of them whispering about how rude the teenagers were being.

"I've never hit a girl before, but you're about to be my first." the kid said, pushing up the sleeves of his jacket. Grimmjow grinned, excited at the prospect of a fight. Koujaku didn't look impressed, and casually reached up to pull on the chord to alert the driver to stop the bus, the kids spewing insults all the while. The driver pulled over a few moments later, and as soon as the bus rolled to a stop and the doors opened, Koujaku landed a kick straight to the kids chest, sending him tumbling backward out of the vehicle.

The kids friends all gave shouts, and one even attempted to swing at Koujaku, but she grabbed his wrist and spun the kid around, yanking his arm behind his back so hard he yelled in pain. Koujaku pushed him out and gave a pointed look to the others, watching in satisfaction as they scrambled off the bus as well.

"Fucking assholes." Koujaku muttered, leaning against the pole with her eyes glued to her phone as the bus resumed its course. Grimmjow looked at Koujaku curiously, wondering how she learned to fight, and if she happened to be a substitute Soul Reaper like Kurosaki or if she developed powers just by being around his incredibly large reiatsu. Her reiatsu was large, there was no denying that, but it wasn't refined like Kurosaki's or Chad's. Now that he thought about it, he had never seen her with that group prior to yesterday, so it was probably safe to say that she didn't run around being a goody-goody like Kurosaki and his other friends.

"Hey." Grimmjow grunted. Koujaku looked up from her phone but didn't say anything.

"You run around killing Hollows and shit like Kurosaki or what?" He demanded. Koujaku shook her head.

"Nope." was all she said. Grimmjow's eyebrow twitched in irritation. She could have at least supplied him with a little more information than that! Before he could voice this, the bus stopped again and Koujaku hefted her duffel onto her shoulder and exited.

Grimmjow clicked his tongue in annoyance. He would just ask her some other time then.

* * *

 **Hello all! I know that I said the next chapter would be on July 14th, but I've got all the way through chapter four written up, so I figured that I would get this posted now! (and also because I'm super excited for you all to read chapter three, that one is my favorite so far.)**

 **I hope my American readers had a great Fourth of July, and to my non-american readers or those that don't celebrate, I hope you had a great weekend!**


	3. A Lesson in Thanks

**A Lesson in Thanks**

Koujaku had managed to clean out the spare room in a single afternoon. The room had been full of boxes and bags, and Grimmjow didn't know where she had put it all in such a short amount of time. He had left one day to go to the Shoten as Kisuke had asked, and when he came back the room was completely cleared out. Koujaku had managed to get a bed, desk and dresser into the room in the short time Grimmjow was gone, and he was now convinced that she was a witch.

"How the hell did you manage this?" Grimmjow asked, scanning a bookshelf full of various novels and textbooks.

"Hard work and determination." Koujaku replied as she pulled a dark blue fitted sheet over the mattress. "You're supposed to say 'thank you' when someone does something nice, by the way."

Grimmjow only scoffed. He didn't ask her to do it, so he felt no need to say 'thank you' to her. He didn't really ever feel like saying thank you to anyone, and knew for a fact that the words had never even left his mouth before in his life.

" _Che_." He scoffed, pulling a textbook off the shelf to examine it. Koujaku elected to ignore him, knowing that she couldn't beat manners into him every day if she ever wanted him to learn anything.

"You never did tell me," Grimmjow began, replacing the textbook. "How you got tangled up with Kurosaki and that hat-and-clogs guy."

Koujaku was silent as she fought to get a pillow in its case. She and Grimmjow would be spending quite some time together in the coming months, so it wouldn't hurt to let him know a few things about her.

"I met Kisuke-san after he saved me from a Hollow attack when I was fifteen or so. Apparently I've got larger than normal reiatsu or whatever it's called and it attracts them from time to time. I started working at the shoten a while after that and met Ichigo-kun when he became a Soul Reaper." Koujaku shrugged and tossed the pillow onto the bed.

"There's not much to it. Other than the reiatsu, there's not much else about me that Kisuke-san should like, but I can't get away from him."

Grimmjow could believe it. Her reiatsu was definitely larger than normal, and if it weren't for his own reiatsu masking hers, he figured he would have seen a Hollow or two coming after her in the time he had been with her. He should probably teach her how to suppress her spirit energy, as it would be inconvenient for her to get eaten by one , but he didn't really want to. He wasn't the teaching type, and he figured that Koujaku wouldn't take well to him telling her what to do anyway.

Koujaku learned the hard way that Grimmjow didn't like sweets or energy drinks.

Since Tao had quit without notice, Koujaku had to train the newbie on the graveyard shift as well as work her own morning shift, so that meant she was gone from nine-thirty at night until two the next afternoon. With Koujaku also being the manager and on salary, it meant that she didn't get paid any overtime while she was training the newbie. She had at first attempted to get Juugo from another store to train Shiemi, but they just had someone quit as well and couldn't spare him.

Since Koujaku was working sixteen hour shifts, she was currently surviving off of energy drinks and candy, as she was too tired to cook anything more substantial. She came home Friday afternoon with a Monster in one hand and a bag of gummy worms in the other, toeing off her shoes and shuffling into the living room. Grimmjow was sitting on the couch reading another textbook from his room, looking just as bored as always. He looked up when Koujaku entered the room, his mouth slightly parted as he sniffed the air.

"Hey." Koujaku greeted tiredly, setting her drink on the coffee table as she slumped onto the couch next to Grimmjow.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, looking from the energy drink to the bag of gummy worms in Koujaku's hand. The woman quirked a brow and held the bag out to them.

"They're called gummy worms. They're a type of candy." she explained.

"They look disgusting." He deadpanned. Koujaku made a face.

"Yeah well, no one asked you." she retorted, taking one from the bag and biting off an end.

"Let me try it." Grimmjow suddenly demanded, holding his hand out. Koujaku placed a few of the gummy candies into Grimmjow's palm, watching as he inspected them as if they could be poisonous. He shoved all four of the gummy worms into his mouth at once, his face suddenly going green. Koujaku burst out laughing at his expression. Grimmjow glared at her, but the gagging noises he was making alleviated the heat from the expression.

"That bad, huh?"

"Why did they get slimy as soon as they got wet?" Grimmjow grumbled, the gummy worms falling out of his mouth to land in an undignified manner on his lap. Grimmjow grabbed a tissue from the coffee table and waded them up inside of it.

"You must have a thing about textures. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if you didn't try to eat all of them at once." she chuckled, taking a deep drink from her Monster.

"I want to try that too." Grimmjow said after a moment of silence.

"Dude, if you didn't like those, I _highly_ doubt you're going to like this." Koujaku said. She knew for a fact that Monster was not the best tasting drink in the world, and could foresee Grimmjow not liking it either. The Arrancar just gave her an expectant look and she sighed, passing the drink to him. He took a large gulp only to spit it out immediately after, the drink soaking everything on the table. Koujaku shouted in irritation and jumped from the couch to fetch some paper towels.

"I told you you wouldn't like it!" She hissed, cleaning up the mess as well as she could.

"It tastes like poison. How do you humans stand that shit?" He asked, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.

"We don't drink it because we like it! We drink it because it keeps us from falling asleep!" she explained, taking everything off the coffee table to run a wet washcloth along it to prevent it form getting sticky.

"It tastes like shit and it'll probably kill you." Grimmjow announced, standing up and taking the half finished drink into the kitchen. Koujaku then heard the sound of the drink being dumped in the sink and she rushed over, taking the can out of Grimmjow's hands just a moment too late. The drink had already been completely dumped.

"What the hell?!" she yelped, angrily tossing the empty can into the garbage. "Those are expensive! You can't just throw someone's drink away because you think it's poison!"

Grimmjow only shrugged, not apologetic in the slightest.

 _I'm going to fucking murder him._ The woman thought, already planning on how she would go about it.

Sundays had always been Koujaku's only day off since she was in school, so she always used that time to visit her grandmother. Her grandmother was a kindly woman called Uzura, who had the same red eyes and black hair as Koujaku, but her personality wasn't nearly as explosive as her granddaughters. She lived in a retirement home on the other end of Karakura Town, despite Koujaku's offer to continue to live at their home.

"You don't need me there any longer!" She had said, waving her hand in front of her face in a dismissive manner. "You need to get out on your own! Invite some friends over without your granny there too!"

Koujaku left the house early that Sunday morning, catching the bus to her grandmother's retirement home. Her music played loudly in her ears during the ride, and she hoped that Grimmjow wouldn't go off by himself today. She needed to figure something out to keep him occupied while she was at work, but she didn't know what. He was too volatile to find an actual job just yet, but perhaps Kisuke would let him work at the Shoten a few times a week. Koujaku mulled that thought over for a while, and figured she would talk to Kisuke tomorrow after work.

Koujaku's grandmother was sitting in her usual spot in her rocking chair by the window knitting. Koujaku knocked on the door and poked her head in, smiling at the sight of the old woman.

"Oh, Koujaku-chan! Come in!" she said excitedly. Koujaku entered and set her backpack down on the ground near the door, walking over to hug her grandmother before sitting on the other chair.

"Hey, Gramma, how's your day been?" she asked. Uzura smiled.

"It's been great! I think that Daisuke from down the hall was – what's the word you kids use? – hitting on me today!"

Koujaku smiled, resting her head on her hand, knuckles curled. "Is that so?"

"I do believe he did! He came and asked me to play shogi with him, and when I beat him, he said that we should keep playing until he wins a game!" Uzura's smile and laughter were contagious, and Koujaku couldn't help but to laugh with her.

"That's great, Gramma. You should ask him to coffee next time you play shogi together."

Koujaku and her grandmother spent the entire afternoon talking, only once leaving the retirement home to walk down the block to get ice-cream and pick up a few things from the store that Uzura needed. Before Koujaku knew it, she was waking up from her position in the arm-chair, her neck and back stiff from sleeping in an awkward position for so long.

The clock on the wall read 10:45, causing Koujaku to curse. The buses had stopped running over an hour ago, so she would have to walk home.

There was a note on Koujaku's backpack from her grandmother and a cloth bag filled with tupperware sitting next to it. The note said that her grandmother didn't want to wake her after she fell asleep since she knew how hard she worked. Koujaku thanked her grandmother for the sentiment, but wish she had at least attempted before the buses stopped running. Koujaku put the bag of left-overs into her backpack and quietly left the retirement home and began her long trek home.

When Koujaku was in school, she often had to walk home alone anywhere she went. That was fine by her; Koujaku was a solitary creature by nature and tended to avoid people as much as possible. It was easy, too. Koujaku had one of those things called 'resting bitch face', so coupled with her aloof demeanor and family background, she was easily stuck with the label 'punk' and avoided like the black plague.

She often spent time at the school's library to catch up on her school work and avoid going home, usually arriving around seven or so. Her father was always gone by this time, so it worked out perfectly. She would rather spend her time at school than be in the same home as her father.

One night she had gotten so caught up in her school work that she hadn't left the library until well after the sun ad fallen. How the key holder for the school didn't think to make sure that all of the students were gone before locking up was beyond her, but she figured that if worst came to worst, she would just hop the fence and get off campus that way.

She ended up needing to hop the fence, but was soon on her way back home, her school bag a familiar and comforting weight on the back of her thighs. The streets were dark and quiet, and a cool breeze drifted by, telling Koujaku that autumn was fast approaching. Koujaku just wanted to be home already. She was starving and knew for a fact that there was pizza waiting for her in the fridge.

There was another gust of wind, but it was hot and sticky with condensation. Koujaku felt goose-bumps rise on her arms and the hairs on the back of her neck rise. This was definitely not normal for this time of year. Koujaku ignored it and kept going. It was probably just a weird drop in barometric pressure that caused it, she reasoned.

Koujaku rounded a corner only to stop dead in her tracks. Standing in the middle of the street was some... _thing_. It was just as tall as the apartment building it stood next to, and it looked like some sort of humanoid lizard, with long arms, enormous claw tipped hands and short legs. Its tail was long and thin, with razor sharp bone-like spikes running from the base of its head to the tip of its tail.

It was looking directly at Koujaku, mouth parted as if it were scenting the air.

 _Or imagining how I would taste_.

Its face was completely white, split in half by a mouth full of sharp teeth. The most noticeable thing about the monster was the large hole in the center of its belly, about the size of a basketball hoop. Koujaku didn't know how it was still walking around with a wound like that, but she realized that she didn't _really_ want to know.

The beast let out a terrifying scream, the sound a cross between a dying woman and the sound metal makes when crushed with immense force. Koujaku thought that it sounded mournful, and for a moment felt pity for the creature, but the thought was quickly shoved away when it began to walk toward her. Koujaku felt some sort of pressure bearing down on her suddenly, making it difficult for her to breathe, let alone try to run away.

The beast was steadily making its way toward Koujaku, who by now had fallen to her knees as the pressure she was feeling was only getting more and more intense.

 _I have to get up, I have to run away._ She thought frantically. She attempted again and again to get up, but it felt as if she had sunk to the bottom of the deepest trenches of the ocean, and it seemed as if the harder she tried to move the more intense the pressure became.

The monster was now looming over Koujaku, maw open, saliva trailing off its many sharp teeth to fall to the pavement and seep into Koujaku's clothing. Before the monster could gobble her up, there was suddenly a man standing between Koujaku and _it._ He wore a long black coat with white diamonds along the hem and traditional _geta_ clogs. He was immensely tall, so much so that Koujaku could only see his back and shoulders from where she was kneeling on the ground.

The sudden appearance of the man startled Koujaku greatly, but what was even more alarming was the long katana he had unsheathed from a cane.

 _What does this weirdo think he's doing?!_ She thought. _That katana isn't going to do shit to kill that thing._

"What are you doing?" she gasped, each word harder to say than the last. "Get... out of here."

Koujaku was now almost completely doubled over, pebbles from the street biting into her forearms, every bone in her body creaking from the pressure. The man only made a sound like he was laughing. Koujaku didn't know how he could laugh at a time like this, and knew that they were both doomed.

The beast gave another roar and lunged at the man, who had only flicked his wrist in retaliation, the point of his katana now facing to the left instead of downward as it had just been. The monster stood frozen for a split second before its head split in two and it evaporated into a cloud of weird powder. The pressure suddenly lifted and Koujaku fell, rolling onto her back to take deep, heaving breaths.

"What in the holy fucking hell -" she gasped, chest heaving. The man tutted from where he still stood a few paces away.

"Come now, is that any way for a young lady to talk?" he had said, voice light despite the fact that he had just killed a huge lizard monster without moving an inch.

That was the day Koujaku had met Kisuke Urahara and learned about Hollows, and she had never wanted to see another one for as long as she lived.

As it stood, she was standing face to face with the third Hollow she had ever encountered before. It was vastly different than the first one she had ever seen. This one resembled a cross between a bear and an alligator with thin, spindly legs. Koujaku had immediately ditched her backpack and booked it in the direction of the Shoten, praying to God that Kisuke, Ururu, Ginta or Tessai was awake to kill it.

She also hoped that she even _made_ it to the Shoten for one of the four to kill it.

It would be cool if that afro-haired Soul Reaper were around, but Koujaku had some of the worst luck, so she doubted that he would get there until after she was long dead.

She skidded around a corner and dashed through an alley, vaulting over a low fence that blocked the exit. Her muscles burned and a stitch was beginning to pull in her side, making it hard for her to breathe. The adrenaline was the only thing keeping her going at this point. Koujaku thought that she should start to work on her cardio – if she made it though this ordeal, that is.

She could hear the Hollow howling behind her and feel the vibrations of its footsteps. It was gaining on her, and this realization spurred Koujaku to run even faster. She would go to church every Sunday and donate her time to the local soup kitchens if she made it out of this alive. Hell, she would wear dresses every day for the rest of her life if it meant that she could have one.

Koujaku felt her knee give out as it hyper-extended, a swift popping sound coming from the joint followed by a searing pain as it did so. Koujaku fell to the ground and skidded a few feet, the asphalt eating through the sleeves of her hoodie and thigh of her jeans and creating road-rash on the flesh in those places. Koujaku tried desperately to get back up, but as soon as she put any pressure on her left leg, the pain made her fall back to the ground again. Koujaku hissed and turned to sit, watching as the Hollow rounded the corner and scuttled into view.

 _This is it,_ she thought, glaring furiously at the Hollow. _Goodbye, Gramma. See you later Kisuke, Ururu, Ginta and Tessai. Good riddance Ichigo; try not to cry too much when you hear that I got eaten by a Hollow._

The Hollow was drawing ever nearer, just a few more paces and it would be close enough to Koujaku to gobble her up in one bite.

It was like deja vu when he appeared.

Just like before, the Hollow was standing over Koujaku, saliva tailing off its many teeth to fall to the pavement and seep into Koujaku's clothing. Just like before, there was suddenly a man standing between Koujaku and the Hollow, only this time it wasn't Kisuke. The man was just as tall as Kisuke, all broad shoulders and dominating presence as he towered over Koujaku with his back to her. He wore a white jacket that had a black collar, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A katana with a white sheathe and blue hilt rested on his left hip, his hands shoved into his pockets in a bored manner.

Unlike Kisuke all those years ago, the man standing before Koujaku didn't use his sword to kill the Hollow, but instead punched a hole through its head, the creature almost immediately disappearing in a cloud of reiatsu. Koujaku felt that _punching_ the Hollow was a little overkill, but was grateful all the same.

The man turned to Koujaku, his electric blue hair giving away his identity immediately. He looked a bit different from what Koujaku was used to seeing. He still had the teal markings around his eyes, but there was some sort of white _thing_ attached to the right side of his face. It looked to be one half of the mandible and maxilla of come sort of large cat, and Koujaku briefly wondered how it stayed attached to his cheek.

This train of thought was lost, however, when she saw the expression on his face and felt the intense spiritual pressure that he had been emanating. The look on his face was a weird combination of murderous, gleeful and bat-shit fucking crazy. Blood-lust was clear in his eyes, and his spiritual pressure was unlike anything Koujaku had ever felt before. It had the same intense, crushing pressure that she had experienced before with the Hollows, but it was different in a way that she almost couldn't place.

Fear rose from the pit of her stomach, welled in her chest and clogged her throat, making it hard to breathe. All Koujaku wanted to do in that moment was _runrunrun_ – her body twitching in a desperate need to follow what her instincts were telling her.

For the first time since they had met, she was utterly terrified of Grimmjow. Every atom and molecule in her body was screaming at her to get away from him – that if she didn't he would shove his hand into her chest and rip out her heart without batting an eye.

She would honestly rather face the Hollow he had just killed rather than stay here with him.

Grimmjow's demeanor suddenly changed, his expression going blank and neutral while his stance dropped into a more casual one. The crazy pressure was gone and Koujaku could suddenly breathe again, but the feeling of _getawaygetaway runrunrun_ had not subsided. Her entire body was trembling, shaking like a three day old kitten. The muscles in her back were coiled so tightly they hurt, ready to spring to her feet and run if need be despite the pain throbbing in her leg

Grimmjow held his hand out to Koujaku only to frown in irritation when she flinched away from him violently, one arm raised in defense. The Arrancar elected to place his hands back into his pants pockets instead, a smirk tugging at his lips.

Koujaku thought it made him look feral. Deadly.

"You're supposed to say 'thank you' when someone does something nice." he quipped, repeating to Koujaku what she had said to him several days ago. Koujaku wanted to laugh at the mundane implications of it, as if Grimmjow hadn't just punched a hole through a Hollow's head and damn near made Koujaku piss herself in fear.

"Uh, yeah, thanks." she said weakly. Koujaku sat there another moment, trying to get her body to stop its shaking.

"Well, come on. Get up so we can go home already." Grimmjow said impatiently. Koujaku only nodded her head and rose to her feet slowly, leaning heavily on her right leg. She almost tipped forward, but her arm snapped out and grabbed a hold of a fence she was standing near to steady herself. Grimmjow gave her a curious look.

"What's the matter, woman?" he demanded. Koujaku was still too frightened to say anything about the 'woman' comment.

"I, uh, hurt my knee running away from that Hollow. Just – just give me a minute." she panted, feeling her knee twinge and twitch painfully, causing her to hiss and double over on the fence. Her leg was bent at the knee and raised slightly to keep the pressure off it, but the pain still throbbed with every frantic beat of her heart. It would probably take several weeks for it to heal properly, but that was only if she could get to a clinic without actually having to walk on it.

"C'mere." Grimmjow said, stalking toward Koujaku. Koujaku twisted out of the way before Grimmjow's hand even touched her elbow, tripping when she accidentally put weight on her left leg. She fell to the ground with an ' _oof'_ and almost began sobbing because of the excruciating pain the action sent jolting through her leg. Koujaku rolled onto her stomach and bit her fist so hard blood welled from the wound and spilled into her mouth. The woman hid her face in the crook of the elbow on her opposite arm as she waited for the pain to subside again, feeling her body rise and fall with her heaving breaths.

There was no way she could walk to the clinic from here. She would have to either let Grimmjow help her or call someone else. A thought suddenly came to Koujaku, and she wondered why she hadn't just called him before. Koujaku flopped back into her back and pulled her phone from her pocket, dialing one of the only numbers in her contacts list and hoping to God that he was still awake.

Ichigo came bolting down the street several minutes later, his face going from confused to concerned to angry in the manner of a few seconds when he saw Koujaku sitting on the ground a few feet from Grimmjow, bending her knee in an awkward manner. Ichigo ran straight up to the Arrancar and grabbed a fistful of his jacket, spinning him around and slamming him against the wall where the two were standing.

"What did you do?!" Ichigo demanded, the teen the angriest Koujaku had ever seen him. Grimmjow's temper flared immediately, the blue-haired man shoving the young Soul Reaper away violently.

"Fuck off, Kurosaki, I didn't touch her!" he exploded. Ichigo obviously didn't believe him, his fist rising to land a punch to Grimmjow's face. Terrified, Koujaku reached for Ichigo even though she couldn't grab a hold of him from this far away and at such an awkward angle.

"Ichigo! Don't, Grimmjow didn't do this!" she shouted, afraid at what Grimmjow might have done had Ichigo actually punched him. Ichigo stalled his arm and looked to Koujaku, letting go of Grimmjow's jacket when he saw the shaken look on her face.

In all the years Ichigo had known Koujaku, he had never seen such an expression on her. Ichigo was at her side in an instant, worried in the way only a boy who had younger siblings could be.

"What happened?" he asked, gently pulling Koujaku to her feet by placing her arm across his shoulders and hooking his own arm around her middle. Koujaku huffed in a combination of pain and exhaustion.

"I fell asleep at my grandma's and missed the bus so I walked home. A Hollow found me, but Grimmjow killed it." Koujaku didn't add in the part where Grimmjow looked like he wanted to eat her too. "I was trying to make it to the Shoten, but I hyper-extended my knee when I was running."

"Pretty fuckin' careless if you ask me." Grimmjow chimed in, voice irritated. Koujaku stiffened and jumped a little when he spoke, Ichigo noticing this immediately.

"That's all that happened?" he asked skeptically. Koujaku gave Ichigo a look that said they would talk about it at a later time.

"Yeah, that's all."

Ichigo gave Koujaku a serious look but nodded his head all the same.

"Let's get you to my dad's clinic." was all he said.

They made their way slowly to the Kurosaki Clinic, picking up Koujaku's backpack along the way. Ichigo went into the house to get his dad, and Isshin wasted no time in crying over Koujaku's wounded state, threatening to kill whomever had done this to her while looking pointedly at Grimmjow. Koujaku could tell that there was something more behind his threats and dark looks, but elected to ignore it. She didn't want to get any deeper into this whole Soul Reaper VS Hollow thing than she was already in.

"It's okay, Kurosaki-san. I was being clumsy." she insisted. Isshin smiled warmly, but gave Ichigo a pointed look. Koujaku knew that she and Ichigo would be having a serious conversation before long.

Isshin eventually released Koujaku after sticking her into a knee brace and giving her crutches. He gave her instructions to ice her knee for fifteen minutes every hour or so and telling her to keep off it as much as possible. She received a doctor's note to inform her job of the implications of standing on her leg too long, but she didn't know if the corporate manager would allow her to take time off to rest and heal up.

Ichigo helped Koujaku home, Grimmjow trailing along after them about fifteen feet away. Ichigo still had a pinched look on his face like he wanted to beat the shit out of Grimmjow. Koujaku plucked at his shirt sleeve in a comforting gesture and gave him a weak, albeit warm, smile.

"Grimmjow just scared me is all." she murmured, voice loud enough for only Ichigo to hear. Ichigo looked at her curiously.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Koujaku stared forward, wondering how she could explain what she meant to her orange-haired friend.

"The look on his face after he killed that Hollow – I've never seen anything like it." She began, biting down roughly on the inside of her lip just above the posts for her lip piercings.

"He looked like he enjoyed it. And his spiritual pressure... I don't really know how to describe it. All I know is that I don't want to see that ever again."

Ichigo gave her a look that told her he knew exactly what she was talking about.

* * *

 **Hello! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, because I had a lot of fun in establishing the relationship between Koujaku and Grimmjow and Ichigo!**

 **Thank you to all that have followed, favorited and reviewed, it means a lot to me!**

 **The next chapter should be up on 07/28!**


	4. A Lesson in Fear Part I

**A Lesson in Fear: Part I**

The nightmares began shortly after the incident with the Hollow.

At first, they were nothing more than feelings of helplessness, but then quickly progressed into intense feelings of terror and the images of Grimmjow eating Koujaku's insides. Koujaku was averaging about three hours of sleep a night and it was beginning to show by the deep purple smudges under her eyes and the extreme lack of energy.

Grimmjow, surprisingly, was the first to notice this.

"You look like shit." he had commented from where he stood in the kitchen, watching as Koujaku stumbled bleary eyed out of her room. Koujaku jumped a little at the sound of his voice, but otherwise didn't respond in any way. The woman tromped tiredly into the living room, fixing her shirt collar where it was twisted uncomfortably around her neck.

"Well gee, thanks for that. Just what everyone wants to hear as soon as they wake up." She grunted, flopping onto the couch. Koujaku pulled a pillow over her face and tried to relax, feeling how tired her eyes, body and mind were. Her stomach was twisted in a combination of exhaustion and fear, making her constantly feel nauseous. Koujaku fought a wave of nausea and curled into a ball onto her side, her face pressing into the cool leather back of the couch.

"Hey, woman. Are you going to die?"

Grimmjow's voice appearing suddenly behind Koujaku made her jump, not expecting him to be _right there_ as she fought not to vomit. The fear that she had felt that night returned, making Koujaku's heart pound wildly in her chest, the same feeling of _runrunrun_ coming back full force.

"What? No, fuck off, Grimmjow. I don't feel good." she groused, curling into herself even farther. The woman could hear the coffee table creak from Grimmjow's weight settling on it. A part of Koujaku wanted to snap at Grimmjow to get off it, but the part of Koujaku that was absolutely petrified of him kept her silent.

"You're not sick." Grimmjow stated. His voice was blank and level, making it hard for Koujaku to tell what he was thinking or what he wanted.

"You're scared; absolutely terrified. I can smell it."

Koujaku remained motionless on the couch, her hands now beginning to shake. She hated feeling so helpless, too caught and consumed by her fear to even function properly. Koujaku rolled over to face Grimmjow slowly, holding the pillow between them as if it could protect her from him. Koujaku kept Grimmjow's gaze for a long time, remembering the teal markings around his eyes, the bone fragment on his cheek and the murderous aura of blood-lust he had been exuding.

"What are you?" Koujaku said at last, her voice strong despite the terror she felt. Grimmjow stared at her blankly for a moment before a grin split his face, sharp and feral as anything. He reminded Koujaku of a cat with a bird in its paw.

No... not a cat. Something bigger, more dangerous. A jaguar, perhaps, dragging a still kicking deer up its tree, no hope of escape.

"So you finally caught on, did you?" he stated, voice rumbling dangerously, like thunder in the distance. "What do you know about Hollows?" he asked, grin still splitting his face.

Koujaku frowned, confused. "They used to be people, but they never crossed over, so they became Hollows." she said. Grimmjow tilted his head from side to side, considering her answer.

"That's the general idea of it. Do you know what they eat?" Grimmjow's voice was a dangerous purr. Koujaku knew that he was getting a sick kick out of hearing Koujaku tell him the answer.

Koujaku gritted her teeth, the image of Grimmjow ripping out her throat fluttering through her mind again.

"Souls." she said at length.

"That's right. And when a Hollow eats enough souls, they ascend and become more powerful. If one even manages to rip off its mask, well, you get me."

Grimmjow's face had fallen once again into a blank mask, making it difficult for Koujaku to tell what he was thinking or what he was going to do. She had certainly wished that she had paid more attention to Kisuke and Ichigo when they were telling her about the Arrancar when they had appeared in the world of the living all those months ago. Even if she did pay attention, however, she would have no way of defending herself against one.

She didn't know if she wanted Grimmjow around any longer.

* * *

Koujaku expressed her concerns to Orihime a week after the incident with Grimmjow, Orihime standing at the stove cooking one of her weird meals while Koujaku lay on the floor near the table, staring blankly at the ceiling. Orihime's home was small and simple, but it felt very welcoming and warm – a stark contrast to Koujaku's home at the moment, which perpetually seemed cold and foreboding these days. Koujaku knew that if she ever felt lonely or lost, she could come to Orihime, who was always great company.

"I'm just worried that he's going to eat me or something." Koujaku explained, an image of Grimmjow with blood covering his mouth and throat making her shiver. Orihime hummed from her spot at the stove, dicing leeks to put into her apricot and beef stew.

"I know Grimmjow-san doesn't seem like it, but he really has changed since the war between Aizen and Yawach." the younger woman said, voice airy but holding knowledge that Koujaku couldn't comprehend could come from one so young. "He's rude, and scary, and seems like he could rip your spine from your body," Koujaku lifted her head from her spot on the floor, one brow quirked at Orihime's choice of words. "But he has certainly changed from when he first fought Ichigo-kun, and even from when Ichigo-kun defeated Aizen."

Koujaku nibbled on the post of her lip piercing in thought.

"Grimmjow used to live there, right? In Hueco Mundo, I mean."

Orihime nodded her head, pouring the finished stew over a bowl of rice, one for her and one for Koujaku. Koujaku sat up and placed her elbows on the table, eyes following a barely-there pattern in the grain.

"How come he doesn't go back?" she asked, mixing the rice and stew together before taking a bite. Orihime took a bite of hers as well, taking time to chew, as if she were thinking about something.

"Well, when we were fighting in the last war with the Quincies, Grimmjow-san fought against one that poisoned him. He almost died, but Urahara-san and I were able to heal him just in time."

This came as a shock to Koujaku. Grimmjow seemed like the kind of guy that wouldn't die easily, and she couldn't even imagine what that must have been like.

"Grimmjow-san seemed to change after that. He said that he had no more business in Hueco Mundo, and didn't want to go back, but I think that he _can't_ go back."

Koujaku looked from her bowl to Orihime, confused.

"What do you mean?"

Orihime shifted and wrung her hands together in thought. "Quincies use reiatsu to power their weapons, and the Quincy that Grimmjow-san was fighting poisoned him. It took Urahara-san and I so long to even _find_ Grimmjow-san in all the rubble, that by the time we did get to him, he had changed as a result of it. I don't think that he can open the _garganta_ to get back to Hueco Mundo."

"Why wouldn't Grimmjow be able to open up the _garganta_ to get back in?" Koujaku asked. Orihime shrugged.

"I don't know, I never thought about it."

Koujaku pushed her stew and rice around in her bowl, turning something over in her mind. She didn't know very much about Quincies, or how they operated, but she did know that Quincies completely destroyed a hollow instead of cleansing it like a Soul Reaper did. Perhaps something similar happened to Grimmjow? Orihime had said that Grimmjow ingested some type of poison, so it was entirely plausible that it had done irreversible damage to him.

Maybe she would ask Kisuke about it the next time she went to the Shoten.

* * *

When Koujaku arrived home that night, she had expected Grimmjow to be lounging on the couch or moping about in his room. Her stomach knotted at the thought of Grimmjow being in her home, prowling around like a hungry cat. She should talk to Kisuke about finding different arrangements for him, maybe if that red haired Soul Reaper wasn't at he Shoten, Grimmjow could-

Whatever train of thought Koujaku was on came to a screeching halt when she heard the sound of glass crunching under her boot in the entrance way. Shards of glass and splintered wood littered the hallway, obviously coming from the table that used to sit next to the door. Koujku cautiously entered the living room, looking on in horror as she saw that the coffee table was broken completely in half and the couch was ripped to shreds, stuffing spilling out of deep gouges in the upholstery. The T.V was still mounted to the wall, but that didn't negate the fact that her home was an absolute and utter fucking _wreck._

"What the _fuck._ " Koujaku breathed, staring at her living room with her mouth hanging open stupidly. What on Earth happened in the short time she was gone? It looked like a bomb went off in her home. Grimmjow then sauntered into the room from the back hallway, something clasped in his right hand.

"Oh hey, you're home." He said casually, looking extremely proud of himself for some reason. Koujaku couldn't speak for a full minute, mouth opening and closing like a dying fish.

"What happened to my house?!" Koujaku roared, adrenaline making her heart pound. Grimmjow lifted his arm, the tail of a small mouse pinched between his pointer finger and thumb, the small creature struggling and squeaking feebly as it tried in vain to free itself of Grimmjow's hold.

"There was a mouse, but I caught it." was all he said, extending the tiny creature out, as if he were trying to give it to Koujaku. Koujaku absently held her hand out with her palm up, blinking slowly at the mouse after Grimmjow placed it in her hand. The poor thing looked winded and a bit in shock, resting with its back against her fingers. Koujaku only turned and opened the sliding glass door that led to the back yard and placed the mouse in one of the bushes lining the walkway.

"What are you doing?" Grimmjow started, hackles raised as if he were getting ready to fight. Koujaku whipped around, a feral look in her eye that made the Arrancar stop dead in his tracks. Koujaku's lips were pulled back from her teeth and her hands were fisted at her sides, arms bent slightly at the elbow. Her shoulders were raised ever so slightly and her entire body was taut, pulled tighter than a drum.

If Grimmjow was a jaguar, Koujaku was a wolf, each currently circling the other and squaring up for a fight.

Completely forgetting her fear, Koujaku marched right up to Grimmjow, tilting her head up to look him in the eyes as she took a large fistful of his jacket and shook him like a ragdoll.

"Motherfucker, you best get to cleaning this house before I kill you and leave you in a box on Kisuke's front porch!"

For someone that was a good five inches shorter than Grimmjow, Koujaku certainly knew how to throw her weight around and make the taller male comply with her demands without getting a word in edgewise.

* * *

It was well known among Koujaku's friends that she and her father absolutely did _not_ get a long.

Grimmjow hadn't ever taken the time to even consider that Koujaku had any other family apart from her grandmother. Hollows, after all, did not have mothers or fathers or siblings, so the thought was not one that Grimmjow would have entertained had he not met the man himself.

Hato was shorter than Grimmjow, with broad shoulders and a perpetual frown on his face, as if he had just stepped in dog shit and wanted to blame and maim the closest person for it. He had the same black hair and red eyes as Koujaku, but his eyes didn't hold the same range of emotions as his daughters. They were cold, and devoid of any emotion but contempt.

Grimmjow knew immediately that this man was dangerous, and he did not like him one bit.

Koujaku stood in front of her father, her hands tucked carelessly in the pockets of her jacket, but Grimmjow could see the tightness in her shoulder and the barely-there flicker of movement in her eyes that told him she was assessing the man before her for any signs of danger.

"I see that you haven't considered my offer." He said, staring Koujaku in the eye. Koujaku stared defiantly back, not one to back down from a fight or argument.

"No." Was all Koujaku said, eyes narrowed. Hato signed, a long breath releasing from his nose, as if he were expecting Koujaku's answer but was still disappointed all the same.

"That's too bad. I really would have liked for you to join the business. You're good at it."

Grimmjow didn't know what this 'business' was that Koujaku was good at, but he knew it was a sore subject by the way every muscle in the woman's body tightened immediately, as if she were a split second away from leaping over the coffee table to fight her old man.

"I'm not going to be your drug peddling scapegoat anymore." Koujaku growled, face absolutely livid. The muscle in her forearm jumped and twitched.

"I am your father, and you will do as I command." Hato said, voice loud but not yelling. Koujaku scoffed and shifted her weight to one hip.

"If you need to tell me to listen to you _just_ because you're my father, you've already lost." she said calmly, her head tilted back in a way told Grimmjow that she knew she had already won. Hato _tsked_ and stared at Koujaku for a full minute before turning on his heel to leave.

"You're going to regret this, Koujaku." he said. Koujaku didn't say anything and simply let the man leave, staring blankly at the living room window afterward. Grimmjow could smell the fear on Koujaku, acrid and pungent, as if someone had cracked a rotten egg in the room. He didn't understand why she would be so absolutely terrified of her father, but judging by how she shook where she stood it must have been intense. She wasn't even this scared of Grimmjow after she had seen him kill that hollow a few weeks prior.

What was it about this man that would make Koujaku so absolutely terrified of him?

* * *

 **Holy moley, I am so sorry. I kind of forgot what I was doing with this. Have this chapter, even though it's a bit rushed.**

 **Also, thank you to those that have favorited, followed and reviewed this story, it means a lot to hear back from you guys!**

 **I'm glad that you guys are liking the dynamic between Koujaku and the other characters, as well as Koujaku herself! I have a lot of fun writing her!**

 **Who knows when the next update will be. I'm in the process of moving and trying to transfer to another store within my company, so things are definitely going to be hectic, but I promise not to keep you guys waiting for another like, eight months!**


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